Review Summary: Vektor deliver the goods in astonishing fashion with a sophomore release that is every bit as good as the stellar debut they put out, with some fantastic guitar lines and crazy vocals that sound like Satan himself bringing about the end of the world
The thrash comeback movement has received somewhat of a beating from many hardcore fans of the older bands in the genre for a number of reasons. Many of the artists that make up the return of the genre that had been dead since the mid 1990's pretty much follow the same formula as those that inspired them, without any of the passion or ingenuity. As such, it would perhaps be possible to count the number of truly revolutionary modern thrash artists on the fingers of an amputee. Vektor are one of these outstanding few band. Instead of merely copycatting everything that Slayer and Testament did throughout the 1980's and early part of the 1990's, Vektor strived to create a unique sound, and they succeeded completely.
It would be an inveracity to call Vektor's debut album Black Future anything less than fantastic. This album did a lot to silence the naysayers of the comeback movement that Vektor are a part of, with its black metal vocals and ridiculously intricate riffing. The constantly morphing song structures and schizophrenic drumming and bass work coupled with an apocalyptic atmosphere is almost assured to give coma victims sleepless nights, and many people were interested to hear how the band would follow up this release. Would they commercialize their sound and appeal more to the scores of thrash fans that were thrown off by their furious and unique approach to thrash metal or would they stick to the same formula? The truth is of course found in the latter.
Everything that made Black Future such an incredible debut makes a welcome return for Outer Isolation. The band once again makes great use of both heavy and cleaner sections to develop an atmosphere that is absolutely out of this world in the same manner as their space-themed lyrics. The guitar work jumps seamlessly from tremolo picked lines with a couple of chords scattered in between phrases to some much more fiddly and intricate segments and jaw dropping slower riffs such as the one found toward the end of the opening song. The drumming here is as intense as could be asked for, with some mind-numbingly well performed blast beats and strikingly creative slower beats that always keeps the listener on his or her toes. The bass is also constantly audible, laying down a beautiful and sinister back drop for the cosmos of sounds that are flung in the listener's direction.
Once again, the vocals only add to the dystopian visions that the band conjures up with their frantic assault on the ears. They are very high in pitch but still retain some level of variety to them including some ridiculously high shrieks that remind me of what would happen if Bruce Dickinson was screaming instead of pulling some funky opera moves. The manic screaming throughout Outer Isolation gives the most menacing, devastating presence behind the microphone imaginable and it is hard to comprehend just how amazing the vocals are and how much they add to the soundscape until you have heard them. Dave Disanto, it would seem, is determined to bring about the impending destruction of the world that the band speaks about in Dying World with just his voice alone.
The one thing that is a little more noticeable here is the presence of an even crisper production job than was found on their debut. Whilst their was nothing overly troublesome about the production on Black Future, the values here have been massively upped, with crisp guitar tones and perfectly mixed bass that ensures it is constantly audible. The sweep picking-happy guitar solos do not completely overbear the listener so that they can not hear the riffs beneath, nor do the occasional blast beats completely block out any of the other instruments. The production here gives the album a slightly more accessible nature, but without ever compromising the musical integrity that this band brings to the table, and this is the area where it really tops Black Future. Another factor that adds to the overall more accessible nature of Outer Isolation is the fact that it clocks in at around ten minutes shorter than that album. This ensures that the crazily fast pace of the album hits the listener straight where it hurts and the quartet never take their foot off of your throat for long enough for you to breathe.
Whilst all the songs here are absolutely top notch, the best would either be the aforementioned Dying World or the title track that closes the album off. The shriek of "welcome to the dying world" always gets to me for reasons unknown, such is the mystery of this album, whilst the title track is an eight minute masterpiece that shows that Vektor know how to make maximum use of the time they have allocated themselves. Some bands do not know how to effectively write longer songs without it feeling gimmicky, but Vektor here have ten minute songs that hit as hard and fast and unrelentingly as any crappy band that fails when they surpass the six minute mark.
Vektor really delivered a masterful effort with the follow up to their debut. Be it the ten minute opener or the frantic bellowing and beautiful slower parts on Venus Project, this is an album that does not stop booting the listener in the face with its space fantasies and fantastic instrumental performances and is one that every thrash fan, new or old, should check out. This is about tied with Black Future in terms of quality, but both are awesome and are highly recommended.
